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Grizzlypeg

Grizzlypeg

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Went to the range yesterday. Temp around -5 C. Shot around 60 plus rounds. 10 factory and the rest handloads. Two of my handloads failed to fire. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I rechambered them and tried a second time, still didn't set them off. Rifle is a Bergara B14 HMR. I did have the bolt completely apart prior to this, cleaned it, and used a touch of synthetic all temperature grease on it. The primers look to have decent firing pin marks in them, even the first time, but I didn't have reading glasses on, so I can't say exactly how deep the firing pin mark was. All the ones that went off seem to have decent firing pin marks. The two that failed to fire, were among the last 20 shots. But I did fire around 10 shots after the last of the problematic cartridges.

I will take the bolt apart and see if I can spot anything weird going on. I heard some of the Bergaras have a problem with the threaded part at the back of the bolt.

baDj7tB.jpg
 
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I would say bad primer, how old are they and have they been stored properly, I had one a couple weeks ago in my 223 WSR, before that the last time I had a bad primer was probably 25 years ago but it happens.
 
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Just in case, I'm taking the firing pin out of the bolt, removing all grease, and just applying the lightest coating of a thin oil around the spring area and some antiseize on the threads of the bolt shroud.
 
I would be pulling the bullets and seeing if you had powder and if primer actually fired. You have good indents in your primers so probably bad primers. I had 3000 CIL primers from late 60’s or 70’s which 5 didn’t go off. I loaded that flat all the same. Primers didn’t fire. Everything had the same lot numbers and stored the same and I broke the seals so likely bad from day one.
 
Judging by the dimples, I'd say there's nothing wrong with the gun.
Usually, if they fire on the rechambering, it's likely that the primers weren't seated perfectly on the first go round.
That, or your spring is getting weak, which I doubt based on the firm dimpling in the pics.
Could be duds, bud.
 
Just to be sure I took the bolt apart, flushed out the inside of the bolt body. Cleaned it thoroughly, wiped down the firing pin so it has minimal lubricant on it where it slides through the guide at the back end where the bolt shroud it. Now I can be sure it isn't the firing pin hung up from dirt or lubricant. I'll hit the range again another winter day. More loads to test. I found a couple of loads with different projectiles that seem to be onto something. 46 grains of varget pushing a 155 SMK at COAL of 2.830 produced two five shot groups that ranged from 0.43" to 0.70 inches at 100 yards. That's the best I've ever gotten those bullets to shoot. I didn't realize they were shooting so good, or I would have shot more groups. I tried them 3 weesk ago, and I was using a muzzle brake back then, and they didn't shoot as well with the brake on, so I just used them for warm up, not expecting much. I just fired two groups then moved onto a different combo at a shorter COAL, and none of them shot close to that. I did find an acceptable hunting load using some 150 grain soft points, and they shot around an inch at best. At worst, over 2".
 
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Bubba Yugga said:
Judging by the dimples, I'd say there's nothing wrong with the gun.
Usually, if they fire on the rechambering, it's likely that the primers weren't seated perfectly on the first go round.
That, or your spring is getting weak, which I doubt based on the firm dimpling in the pics.
Could be duds, bud.
Click to expand...

These were very carefully checked loads. The primers were seated flush with 100% certainty.
 
You are already on the right track with cleaning the firing pin and spring etc. - I wash them right out with WD and grease the locking lugs with Moly grease - especially stainless bolts - they will gall terribly if not lubed.

Grease can slow the smack of the firing pin - it isn't just how much of a dent the pin makes, but how fast it hits - I think you said that you double hit those in the pics.

I had a Ruger Stainless multi-fail because the very end of the firing pin channel of the bolt had a little bump/burr on one side, so the pin hit the burr at the end of it's travel and went a tiny bit sideways, then completed it's travel - slower.... bit of a bother finding that out. Very carefully sliding the springless pin down the channel and rolling the bolt a little and drop it again, found that at one angle, the pin did not protrude as proud as at other angles of rotation until it was pushed harder.

Savage Rascals have too short of firing pin drop - so even if a heavier spring is put in, the pin doesn't hit fast enough - even though it may hit with enough force to dent the rim enough. There could be some softness in the transfer of smack into the firing pin also - the hit to the firing pin on rimfire being on the edge of the striker part is not a good centre-of-mass hit. ( Not your problem of course - just bringing up the issue of lost speed being more important than lost force, and indirect flow of smack could be.)

If they were a bit short - too much headspace... likely not but maybe when you were first setting dies.....

A little water..... wash your cases?......coffee? ..... likely not - but it would better explain why the second hit didn't ignite 'em.

Bolt not going all the way into battery - glove bumping the handle up a bit ..... try a primer in a case and lift the handle a bit and see if it light-strikes?

We would like to know if it ever comes up again after you washed the bolt - empty minds would like to know.
 
Bubba Yugga said:
Even with no powder, a squib fire would at least generate enough pressure to unseat the bullet.
That said, disassembly is certainly in order.
Click to expand...

A few years ago when I was shooting a pile of 308. I had what I thought was 2 dud primers. Click and no bang. Got home and pulled the bullets. The primer did go off but no powder. Bullet didn't move at all.
Fed 210M primers 168gr bullet
 
The culprit is sometimes excessive headspace (too much shoulder bump), but most often it's a primer seating issue. You need to make sure they're bottomed out (but not crushed) in the primer pocket for the anvil to engage properly. Clean and uniform your primer pockets well so that you get a "feel" for a bad seating.

Those dimples look fine - I don't think it's your bolt, but it's always a good idea to check there for signs of dragging, burrs, cold grease, etc. I see you're looking to oil the bolt internals. I'd recommend cleaning everything with brake cleaner - flush out all old grease, grit, oil, etc. then just wipe it down with a slightly oily cloth (to protect from rust) and that's it. No oil, no grease, no CLP, etc. at all. That stuff is a magnet for dirt and grit, and there's no need at all of it in the bolt. Clean and dry is the way to go, especially in colder weather.

Good luck - these issues can be hard to pin down.

PS - also, it's easy to bump the bolt up a tiny bit after chambering a round - this robs the spring of energy as it has to use some to close the bolt back into battery. Something to watch out for.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
Just in case, I'm taking the firing pin out of the bolt, removing all grease, and just applying the lightest coating of a thin oil around the spring area and some antiseize on the threads of the bolt shroud.
Click to expand...

You should never use grease inside the bolt or around the firing pin. Grease will slow the firing pin down, which could result in misfires. Beyond the misfire potential, you want the firing pin to move as fast as possible to reduce lock time.
 
I wash a bolt out with brake cleaner and lube the inside with GH96. This is the lightest possible film to prevent rust. If I was preparing to hunt at -40 I would consider washing with brake cleaner on leaving it bare.

As for the click -no boom, if the shoulder is too far back or the bullet seated too long, the strike can be cushioned. Difficult to do with a Federal. They are very sensitive,
 
Grizzlypeg said:
Just to be sure I took the bolt apart, flushed out the inside of the bolt body. Cleaned it thoroughly, wiped down the firing pin so it has minimal lubricant on it where it slides through the guide at the back end where the bolt shroud it. Now I can be sure it isn't the firing pin hung up from dirt or lubricant. I'll hit the range again another winter day. More loads to test. I found a couple of loads with different projectiles that seem to be onto something. 46 grains of varget pushing a 155 SMK at COAL of 2.830 produced two five shot groups that ranged from 0.43" to 0.70 inches at 100 yards. That's the best I've ever gotten those bullets to shoot. I didn't realize they were shooting so good, or I would have shot more groups. I tried them 3 weesk ago, and I was using a muzzle brake back then, and they didn't shoot as well with the brake on, so I just used them for warm up, not expecting much. I just fired two groups then moved onto a different combo at a shorter COAL, and none of them shot close to that. I did find an acceptable hunting load using some 150 grain soft points, and they shot around an inch at best. At worst, over 2".
Click to expand...

I had the same experience with 155s. I tried 3 different brakes and the groups were all in the 1.5" to 2.0" range. I was very disappointed in the rifle performance. Then someone here on CGN commented that cheap brakes blow groups. Eureka. Sub 1 minute groups.

3 rifles here like 46 to 46.4 gr of varget.
 
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